Take Courage! It is I – Sermon 10 August, 2014

“Take Courage! It is I”
Math. 14:22-33
It is a lot easier to demonstrate our faith on Sundays or when we are surrounded by other faithful people; than it is to demonstrate our faith during the week or when we are alone. So it’s in those times that the quality of our faith is measured. Because it’s often in the midst of the week or it’s between the crowds that the storms of life arise and it’s in those times that we are called to fight the good fight of faith.
And that’s exactly where the disciples were in this passage of scripture. You see just before this scene Jesus fed a Crowd of well over 5,000 people, demonstrating to His disciples that He cares and that He is able to provide. And immediately following our text, Jesus heals the sick in a huge crowd of people on the other side of the sea, demonstrating again that He cares and that He can overcome the problems we face. So this entire scene, set between a crowd and a crowd, involves only Jesus and His disciples. Matthew 14:22-29a…
After feeding more than 5000 people, Jesus commanded the disciples to get into the boat and go over to the other side of the sea. Then He stayed back and spent time in prayer with His Father. Jesus often prayed just before the most difficult circumstances of life. Most probably He went away to pray for His disciples. He went away to pray for their faith.
In the meantime the disciples had encountered a storm, and a strong wind was blowing against them, and even though they had been rowing hard all night they were only to the middle of the sea. But all of a sudden Jesus came walking to them on the water. Initially they were afraid because they thought He was a ghost. He assured them and said:
“Take Courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” At that moment Peter spoke up and said, “Lord, if it’s You, tell me to come to You on the water.” So Jesus said, “Come”
There are four lessons that we can learn from the events that took place that night during the storm.
1. When we put our faith in Christ we can do great things
Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” In Matthew 19:26 after saying “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Peter demonstrated that first hand, he stepped out of the boat with nothing to stand on but the word of Jesus. You see Jesus said, “Come.”
Peter was a man of great faith at that time but it was more that he just didn’t give it a thought until he was out on the water. But for whatever reason he got out of the boat and on the water.
There are many examples when someone was willing to step out in faith. The Bible is full of such stories:
1. Abraham stepped out in faith when God commanded him to leave his country, family, and his fathers’ house, and go to a place that he had never been before, and God said He would bless him there.
2. David stepped out in faith when he faced a giant named Goliath. Everyone else was terrified including Saul who was supposed to be a great military leader. But David faced the giant with a sling shot and a couple of rocks.
3. Noah stepped out in faith and built the ark even though he was living in a dessert and it had never rained before… He didn’t even know what rain was, but he obediently stepped out on God’s word.
4. The children of Israel stepped out on faith and passed through the Red Sea on dry land, when the Egyptians tried to follow God called the waters back and they drowned.
Now Peter was going to step out on faith and walk on water because Jesus said, “Come.”
Do you have that kind of faith? A faith that steps out on nothing but God’s word, A faith that doesn’t seem to make any sense, A faith that goes against all human logic? Until you do you will never see God do great things in your life.
We are more like the other disciples than we are like Peter. Any one of them could have stepped out of the boat and onto the water but they didn’t believe it was possible even though Jesus was standing on the water right in front of them.
Or maybe they believed it was possible but not enough to step out of the boat themselves. We believe God can do all things, but we are just not that confident that He can do great things through us.
We are more like the disciples who sat back and gave it some thought first. Sometimes we think things through too much. And when we do that we examine all the obstacles and equate whether it is possible or not. And when we do that we do disfavour to God because nothing is too difficult for Him.
But Peter didn’t think at all, he just stepped out on faith. It is dangerous to step out on faith when our faith is misplaced. If we are trusting in our own ability or if we are trusting in someone else’s’ ability we can find ourselves drowning in all kinds of trouble. But when we put our faith in God we can step out on nothing but God’s word and stand on a firm foundation.
This was not a blind faith; he was trusting in Christ, the Creator of all things, the One who made the waters, the One who can override all the laws of creation, the One who can calm the storms. Since Jesus said, “come”, Peter stepped out on faith.
I truly admire men like Peter, Abraham, Noah and David, who stepped out on nothing but the word of God and found a sure foundation. But isn’t that what God calls us to do on a daily basis. It’s not just about Sundays or in times when we’re with a crowd, He calls us to a daily living faith.
So, when God calls us to do something beyond our physical ability, beyond our financial ability, beyond our wildest imaginations, something beyond the laws of nature, we need to step out on faith, because He has power over all things great and small.
2. When we fear the things around us we will fail
Vs. 29-30, “Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, cried out: ‘Lord, save me!’” Have you ever noticed that defeat often comes right after our greatest victories?
Let’s take two examples:
1. After God freed the Israelites from Egyptian bondage and brought them over the Red Sea on dry ground, they blamed God for bringing them out in the dessert to let them die.
2. Right after Samson had killed the thousand Philistines with the jawbone of the donkey, he thought he was going to die of thirst and he questioned God in Judges 15:18.
Peter had stepped out and was walking on the water but then he looked around and saw the waves and he began to think about the laws of nature and he thought to himself this isn’t possible and he began to sink. Fear often brings failure. Fear puts us down.
We admire Peter for trying – at least he had some success even if it was short lived. That’s more than we can say for the rest of the disciples. But Peter’s fear really seems to be more apparent because he was out there on the water and he began to sink when he looked at the waves around him.
At least Peter knew who to call on when he was going down. “Lord, save me.”
We all have those times in our lives, where we are forced to reach out beyond ourselves, times when we have failed and we see no way out. But let me ask, where do we reach when we have reached our limits?
Some reach for a bottle, some reach for drugs, while others reach for a gun – The pressure and strain of life has become too great, and they just can’t cope with it anymore. There is always hope. If we ever feel ourselves going down, as Peter did, you need to cry out “Lord, save me.”
Vs. 31 “Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him.” Jesus is always there ready to pull us out of the depths of despair. All we have to do is call on Jesus.
3. When we take our eyes off Jesus we will face doubt and despair
Peter was off to a great start. He was walking on the water. He took a step of faith, and the Lord honoured it. But suddenly he began to sink. “It’s not how we start that’s important but how we finish.” What happened?
Vs.30a “But when he saw that the wind, he was afraid.” He took his eyes off of Jesus and he focused on to the wind and the waves. When he was looking to Jesus he was walking on the water. But when he began looking at the difficulty, the problem, the wind and the waves, he began to sink.
The more I look at our problem the bigger it seems to grow until it seems to be unbeatable. When we look at the problems around the world – hatred, violence, war, lack of morality, the problems in our own families and so much more, we can become overwhelmed with doubt and despair. But when we look to Jesus we see that He is able to overcome anything and everything…
Peter was sinking in the water, so he cried out to the Lord and Vs. 31 says, “And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
We all have doubts from time to time because we focus on our circumstances rather than the Lord and if we are not careful we will be overcome by them. But if we will focus on the Lord and we will overcome our circumstances and our doubts.
4. When we focus on the Lord He will lift us up
When Peter looked to Jesus he walked on water, he did the impossible. When he looked at the crashing waves, he sank. What does that teach us? KEEP OUR EYES ON JESUS!
Paul says it best in Philippians 3:12-14, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”.
Notice what happened once Peter fixed his eyes on Jesus Vs. 31, “And immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him.” Then in Vs.32-33, “And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”
When Christ calls us to do the impossible, we have to trust Him and step out on faith.
When we are in the depths of doubt and despair we should call upon Jesus and He will save us.
When we see the storms of life are all around us, let’s look to Jesus and we will be filled with a calming assurance that everything will be all right, because He is Lord of all.

Krikor Youmshajekian